Hearst Bay Area Blog

The way customers give feedback has changed immeasurably. While 20 years ago it was acceptable for a restaurant, a bar or a local store to rely heavily on word of mouth for generating customers, a growing collection of online platforms are becoming highly influential as a means of encouraging someone to opt for one place over another.

Take TripAdvisor - used specifically within the hospitality sector - whose seven-million accommodations, restaurants and attractions had attracted over 570 million reviews since the platform went live in 2000, up to November 2017. Yelp is another hugely popular service around the world, partially because of its ability to focus on every type of local business, rather than just the hospitality ones.

Are Yelp reviews important? 90% of Yelp users claim that positive reviews of a business can impact their purchase decisions. This stat is complemented by readings from a previous study, authored by Boston Consulting Group, which claimed companies with a presence on the site would make an average of $8,000 per year in extra revenue, but the study ignored an important point: the impact of negative reviews.

Anyone running a business will recognize that problem customers, and bad reviews come with the territory. Accidents happen on a regular basis; people make mistakes, and when they do, the accessibility of platforms like Yelp means there’s always an easy way for the “victim” to vent about their experiences.

A key thing to remember is that all businesses get bad feedback from time to time. Check out the Twitter accounts of your favorite brands and see how many irate customers they deal with on an hourly basis. That is why the focus should be less on the feedback itself, and more on how you respond.

In this list, we’ll be looking at ten types of responses you can provide to negative Yelp reviews.

1. The short and sharp

We’ll start with the kind of review that puzzles business managers. Andrew left a scathing review criticizing a letting agent without actually mentioning anything about the experience he encountered. He could have been someone who didn’t even manage to get past a busy dial tone, or even a competitor trying to sabotage their rival; we have no idea.

The response is a very simple “contact me regarding these details,” which is all it warrants. After all, why should the business risk Andrew spelling out everything that was bad about the service? Take the conversation away from Yelp and preserve the reputation - it’s feedback 101.

2. The in-depth analysis

Some people like to leave long diatribes about their negative experience. In the example above Douglas has gone to the length of providing four points where his standards were not met, which gives off a pretty horrible account of Emery Dental.

In this case, it would not be wise to approach the matter like our business in example one because asking to discuss things away from Yelp would not give the company a chance to respond to some very specific accusations, all of which are in the public eye and there to be trusted by other reviewers.

Instead, the group seeks to address every one of the points, perhaps with a bit of unnecessary venom but an apology at the end helps soften the blows. Here, a detailed review required a detailed response.

3. The “where do we go from here?”

This example of a review response from Kreme de la Kreme Nail Lounge often pops up in articles summarizing the best ways to deal with Yelp reviews, so we’re going to give our take on why it’s so good.

First of all, Cassandra has thrown a curveball here. She explains the shop is nice, they have great products, and she’s more than happy with the service. Due to the fact she was gifted her pedicure and would never usually spend that much on her nails, she’s given a mediocre review. This review is confusing on so many levels, and we can only sympathize with the business in question.

Given that we’re scratching our heads even reviewing this, one can only imagine how irate Angela from the shop would have been about receiving this. Nevertheless, she leaves a couple of points about how they justify their prices and leaves it at that. Her composure is admirable and another example of how to deal with complex feedback.

4. The poor experience

As we’ve said before, mistakes can happen, and Urban Waxx did the right thing by holding its hands up when a reviewer had a bad experience.

We’re impressed by the tone of the response as well as the extra details which may have explained why the service was not up to the standard. While making a list of excuses is not advised, they do help to explain why something wasn’t quite right.

5. The “don’t rise to it”

It’s never nice when a reviewer gets personal, regardless of what drove them to those lengths. We have nearly the full house here, comprising of a one-star review, a criticism of the business, an insult to the manager and reference to an incident.

Rather than going on the kind of tirade that sees everyone lose out, this fitness club kept their cool and apologized for the inconvenience. An option to speak about the incident is provided, and the would-be customers that see this review are given the assurance that even the worst feedback isn’t ignored.

Here we see a long game being played, with the business choosing its reputation over a need to rise to the bait.

6. The useful ones

Yelp feedback can be very unhelpful when it fails to arrive in a constructive manner. Personal insults and nondescript reviews give little insight into how the business is doing, unlike our example here.

From the tone of Sofi’s response, it seems like a genuine mistake has been made - one that the business is fully aware of - and these will happen when a small operation becomes inefficient. Thankfully there is a solution for all, as the business looks to have taken note of problems with its staffing and addressed the issues and the negative feedback in one go.

7. The "too little too late"

This response from Mother Bear’s Pizza is very good. Here we have another three out of five rating from someone who has a few specific areas they want to pick up on. Those are addressed, along with a couple of extra points to set the record straight, and there’s an invitation for further discussion as well. The business has made an effort to engage with a difficult customer, and that’s commendable.

What slightly lets things down is the lack of timeliness here, as a response that could have arrived minutes after the review comes nearly a month later. It’s not possible for every manager to respond to feedback within the blink of an eye - they have a business to run - but leaving things for a month is only going to give the customer another reason not to go back. Timeliness breeds effectiveness in these cases.

8. The addressing of the addressed

At some hotels, this report of bed bugs at one of the rooms would not have received a response. The hotel itself has carried out a recent inspection, found there to be no bed bugs on the premises, and closed the case.

Unfortunately, this would not have been enough, as the claim still needs to be disproved and the problem addressed. By going one step further, this hotel even suggests a follow-up to check that nothing is untoward. The seriousness of the tone is another excellent quality of this response, as any group in hospitality should treat matters relating to hygiene with the respect it deserves.

9. The olive branch

Like hygiene, the topic of someone’s health is no laughing matter. This chiropractor’s experience of dealing with feedback is very evident as it seeks to set the record straight.

One option would have been to angrily stress the lack of any guarantee over the ability to heal a certain issue. Instead, the business ticks a few boxes for responding to feedback by clarifying its stance, addressing the issue with a promise of free treatment, along with the option to discuss things further. The customer may not return, but anyone who may be looking at this review will know that issues do get solved.

10. The creative approach

We’ll leave you with a light-hearted response to a Yelp customer that waged war on the Joe Dough Sandwich Shop in New York. Rather than attempt to hide the review or banish it to the realms of the online world, the business makes light of the situation and uses it as a physical marketing tool for reeling in business off the street.

While it’s perhaps best to keep your negative feedback where only a few people can see it, the result of this carefully considered response was significant. Praise was heaped on Joe Dough’s through social media, and the sign even gained coverage in places like the Huffington Post. To those that were passing the shop, it might have encouraged them to eat at a place that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

To recap, our advice for responding to Yelp reviews are as follows:

Remove emotion: Resist the tirade and act like you would on the shop floor.

Address the issues: If there are any blatant problems, do your best to solve them.

Patch things up: Offering a discount or something similar can help you gain repeat business from the person complaining.

Discuss things in private: Where possible, supply your details to keep conversations away from the public eye.

Think of the bigger picture: If you get bad feedback, address it to salvage the opinions of potential customers.